A friend in the SLC vicinity just bought a J.C. Higgins chambered for .270 In., in NRA VG-Exc. condition. He tells me it is really a Winchester post-'64 Model 70-A labeled for sale by Sears. He bought it mainly for the action...wants to put an 8m/m-'06 on it.

Anybody have any background info on these?

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He tells me it is really a Winchester post-'64 Model 70-A labeled for sale by Sears.

What else is to tell? The gun is essentially identical to a contemporaneous Model 70, except that the impressed checkering pattern may be slightly different. If you want a push feed M70 action, the Sears works just fine. (Earlier, the "hi-power" bolt action in the Sears line was an FN Mauser.)

Well, thanks stonecreek, you have given me part of what caused me to bring it up...you've verified that such a thing does (did) exist.

I am familiar with the Sears FN's, having owned a slew of them, but I am not familiar with the Sears M70's. Were they actually concurrent, or were they something Winchester dumped, using Sears as the marketer, after upgrading from the '64-68 series of
70's in their own brand-name?

Do you know when Sears quit selling them as J.C. Higgins?

What other info can you provide, like available chamberings, etc.?

I don't know when they made them or when they stopped but there's a TedWilliams Model 73 in my gunsafe in 30-06 and it too is a post-64 pushfeed winchester.
I believe from the style of the pressed checkering in the stock mine was made in the early 70's.

Trust me, it's a winchester regardless of the marking.

AD

I wonder, were these similar to the 670 bargain basement models Winchester sold for awhile?

Rich
DRSS

Rich,
yep like the 670/coyote/ranger ..

Sears Model#, Winchester Model#

53A, 70A (mfg 1972-78)

T. W. 73's, 670 (std and mag 1967-73) and
New Model 70

Ok.... Growing up middle class, Sears for everything from back to school to tool's to Boy Scout uniforms... All my life I alway's wondered..



Who the Hell is Ted Williams??

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Who the Hell is Ted Williams?? Frowner

Not much of a baseball fan are ya?

Ted Williams was a baseball player and quite a fisherman. He especially enjoyed fly fishing. Was a good friend of ol' Kurt Gowdy of Wide World of Sports. I think he just passed away two or three years ago, was in his nineties.

Geronimo

I believe he had the single season batting record of something like .401 until George Brett broke it in '85 IIRC. He was supposed to be a helluva nice guy.

Ted came to Stuttgart, Arkansas many times to duck hunt. I was a plant breeder for a company who owned lots of land and a tremendous duck club. Lucky for me I got to hunt with Ted twice back in the late 70's. He was a class act! Also had some good stories about other players of his day. He signed a ball for me and I still have it today.

As you might imagine, Ted Williams did a LOT of advertising for Sears after he retired from baseball.

No one knows what baseball records he would have set had he not enlisted during the Korean war. He spent a couple of his prime years in a foxhole instead of a dugout. I never met him, but he was truly a great guy.

Well that answer's that... I remember seeing Ted Williams from baseball equipment, to ping-pong balls, fishing, you name it.. I won't even ask the obvious.......

Doh... Can't helpit... Who's J.C. Higgins??

This is a total thread-jack.. sorry

I don't know if he spent any time in a foxhole but, he was a hell of a USMC fighter pilot. He once said that his exceptional eyesight was the reason for his success at shooting down migs and hitting a baseball. He claimed he could see the seams on the ball as it approached the plate.

JC Higgins was an employee at Sears that they named a product line after. He was not famous except at Sears where I think he was their Comptroller, real name was John Higgins and no middle name so Sears took liberty with the "JC" part. He worked there from 1898 to 1930 and they started his product name around 1908 and continued it until they picked up Ted Williams name about 1960 I think.

Along with the semi-fictitious J. C. Higgins and the very genuine Ted Williams, Sears also briefly used the name of baseball pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter as their sporting goods "brand name". As far as I know, Catfish Hunter came along after Sears stopped selling proprietary branded guns, but I still have a gun case with the "Catfish Hunter" signature.

I believe that some of those re-named Model 70's came with a blind magazine and those that didn't had an even poorer excuse for a floorplate and trigger guard. Your friend would do well to buy one of the William Firearms http://gunloads.com/clients/william/store/product_info....32_34&products_id=99 steel one-piece guards for it and really dress it up, especially with the new Oberndorf style he has recently produced.

Who was J.C. Higgins? From the Sears archives:

"Many people ask if there was a real "J.C. Higgins" who worked for Sears. There certainly was. John Higgins began working for Sears in 1898 as the manager of the headquarters' office bookkeepers and retired as company comptroller in 1930.

"John Higgins" the employee became "J.C. Higgins" the brand name during a discussion in 1908 among Sears' executives of possible names for a new line of sporting goods. At this point, the story gets a bit murky, but Higgins' name was suggested and John Higgins consented to Sears use his name. Since he did not have a middle initial, Sears added the "C."

In 1908, the Western Sporting Goods Company in Chicago began putting J.C. Higgins on baseballs and baseball gloves sold in Sears catalogs. By 1910, the J.C. Higgins trademark was extended to cover footballs and basketballs. Later, the popularity of the Higgins brand—combined with the wider participation of American youth in sports—led Sears to place tennis equipment, soccer balls, volleyballs, boxing equipment and baseball uniforms in the J.C. Higgins line.

By the 1940s, J.C. Higgins represented all Sears fishing, boating and camping equipment. After the Second World War, Sears consolidated all sporting goods under the J.C. Higgins brand name and added it to a line of luggage.

The J.C. Higgins brand disappeared shortly after Sears introduced the Ted Williams brand of sporting and recreation goods in 1961."

Aaaahhhh............ Now I can die happy...

Thanks Guy's..

Now back to our regular program..

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Originally posted by craigster:
Sears Model#, Winchester Model#

53A, 70A (mfg 1972-78)

T. W. 73's, 670 (std and mag 1967-73) and
New Model 70

Thanks, Craig - - exactly what I was after. I know Sears peddled them in in '06 and .270; anyone know if they also sold shorter chamberings such as .243 & .308?

Incidentally, his IS a "Ted Williams" branded model. He bought it and a "Ted Williams" .22 (Hi-Standard) automatic pistol as a package deal for a virtual song. The .22 is in as-new condition, box and all. They were for sale Locally there for quite a while, but no one wanted them because they weren't stamped with the maker's names. So after watching them for several weeks, he made an offer.

The seller knew what both guns were, but couldn't sell them because no one else who looked at them seemed to know. So, he took the offer.

BTW, he is having a pretty good year. Bought an African hunt at a local game dinner for $1,000, so he and his wife will be going there shortly.